PSHE Curriculum Statement

Positive relationships in schools are central to the wellbeing of both students and teachers

and underpin an effective learning environment.

– Sue Roffey

Curriculum Intent:

At St Peter’s CE Academy, we strongly believe that PSHE has a fundamental role to play in education, Pupil’s mental health and own self-regulation. We hope to create reflective, well-adjusted members of society with the ability to affect positive change in their communities.

In line with the EEF foundations recommendations, at St. Peter’s we ensure that PSHE is taught explicitly whilst also being reinforced through whole-school ethos and activities. Examples of such whole school initiatives that support PSHE are our Mind Shift sessions, Rights Respecting Award, School council, and Klassen Kage.

Through weekly PSHE lessons planned using the scheme SCARF we aim to teach children the skills and strategies of how to manage emotions and support their own mental health. We understand that children are not born with these strategies and not all children will develop all the desired skills during their Primary and Secondary years. Our approach is proactive and helps prevent serious mental health problems. The scheme dismantles barriers to learning along with building relationship among peers. Without such teaching we believe that children become more vulnerable to developing mental health difficulties. Children who believe that they do not have the potential to self-improve and build positive relationships may feel more powerless, and thus be more vulnerable to anxiety and mental health difficulties.

At St Peter’s, we are committed to ensuring that all our pupils learn within a community that promotes and engenders a growth mindset. From the moment children begin their journey with us, we focus on social and emotional development.

Curriculum Design (Implementation):

PSHE is embedded through weekly PSHE   sessions. Our PSHE & SRE curriculums, supported by SCARF, are tracked through a progression grid.

In addition to this our PSHE curriculum is supported through a number of school wide activities including:

• Mind Shift Sessions including; Talk Assemblies - whole school, Mindfulness -Yoga/meditation, art, Theology and Philosophy and Vocab development – don’t say it, Talk assemblies, Book Clubs
• Focus on our Rights Respecting Schools award, enabling children to fully embrace and understand their voice.
• School Council – further encouraging pupil voice, positive relationships and understanding living in the wider world.

Within our dedicated PSHE times out circle times are used to promote pupil voice, putting a focus on self–regulated problems or concerned, still roughly following the theme of PSHE lesson learning. Our PSHE weekly sessions closely follow the progression document, but can be flexible to adjust to individual and class needs.

Curriculum Impact:

To measure the impact of this approach we will ensure that emphasis is placed on children’s positive relationships within school and out, children understanding of their own feelings, emotions and how to self-regulate these feelings. The children will be able to have a wider understanding of the world, not just around them but the wider world, understanding different relationship and family dynamics.

This will in turn support our children to be positive, respectful and tolerant members of society. Able to make and maintain positive relationships, understand the importance of their own health and that of others, and have a broad understanding of how to live in the wider world.